Top 12 cars of 2012: BMW 320d

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It feels as if BMW spent massive amounts of money on this car, so good and so complete does it feel to drive. Every time we spend time with a BMW 3-series, especially if its the miracle-working 320d, sooner or later someone falls to wondering out loud whether this isnt the best saloon car in the world. And despite the received wisdom that the best car in the world is much bigger and much, much more expensive, theres usually plenty of support for the idea.
Everyone knows the reasons by heart. This compact, rear-drive four-door saloon – powered by a well made but relatively ordinary 2. 0-litre, four-cylinder turbodiesel engine, driving through a common-or-garden six-speed manual gearbox – has repeatedly been proven to have a breadth of capability that simply eludes even the best rivals.
It offers amazingly high performance (a 146mph top speed and a 0-62mph sprint time of 7. 7sec) yet its official combined economy figure of 61. 4mpg is supported by our own just-as-spectacular road test touring figure of 56. 8mpg. Its terrific high-speed stability and sure on-limit handling are accompanied by a docility at a dawdle that is no less impressive. It has decent cabin accommodation for four. And a big boot. And a big name.
Despite all this, you can buy one of these fine cars – our road test team gave it the elusive five stars when we tested it back in February – for just over 29,000, or for 9000 more if you buy it with the bells and whistles of our test car, which included 540 18-inch alloy wheels, 750 M Sport suspension, a 450 cabin comfort pack, Dakota leather at 1265, Professional sat-nav for 2000, 610 metallic paint, 180 Servotronic power steering and 925 adaptive xenon headlights. BMW has not lost its penchant, on option prices, for charging like the Light Brigade.
But its the quality of what you buy that makes the car so special. The car is fairly low, and you sit low in it. The steering wheel is relatively high, and you have a clear view of the typically BMW instruments (they hardly ever seem to change) through its top semi-circle from the comfort of your supportive seat. The fascia is a slightly confusing asymmetrical sculpture, with an infotainment screen sprouting from its centre, behind two rectangular dash vents. The steering wheel is the usual thick-rimmed design with a big triangular boss and the familiar blue-and-white roundel level with your chest.
The engine sounds sporting for a diesel and behaves that way, not least because it offers decent shove between 1200rpm and 5000rpm, a wide band for a diesel. The 320d dismisses the 0-60mph sprint in a time worthy of a Volkswagen Golf GTI not many years ago, while using half the fuel. The gearlever moves with what our road testers termed cushioned accuracy and the ratios are widely spread so the car can cruise at over 100mph while showing less than 3000 in top (and only three-and-a-bit in fifth).
The chassis is lovely – flat-riding in Comfort mode but supple enough for UK back roads and UK passengers, yet good enough in Sport not to be disgraced on a circuit. The Servotronic steering is lovely to heft, perfectly weighted and accurate, and the brakes have all the energy one needs in a car that wants to be driven. Again and again, you wonder if this paragon of driving pleasure can really be a 2. 0-litre diesel.
Better yet is the ownership experience. Against all comers, BMWs are reliable and long lasting and hold their value. So you can buy to move the car on fairly quickly, or run it for a decade. Best of all, as you drive, you repeatedly detect the thoroughness and enthusiasm of the people who engineered this car; they have built, pound for pound, one of the finest cars on the road.